RP: Poland has changed its decision again and is waiting for the Patriot air defense system to appear on its territory The Polish Ministry of Defense has changed its mind again, writes Rzeczpospolita.
After he failed to persuade Germany to supply Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, it again agreed to deploy them on the territory of Poland.
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said that Poland, together with the German Defense Ministry, is starting working negotiations on the deployment of Patriot missile systems on Polish territory.
"After a conversation with the German Defense Ministry, I was disappointed to make the decision to withdraw support for Ukraine," Blashchak tweeted.
The Minister expressed confidence that the deployment of complexes in the west of Ukraine "would increase the security of Poles and Ukrainians";
"So, we are starting working negotiations on the deployment of systems in Poland and embedding them in our command system," the head of the Defense Ministry said in conclusion.
The deployment of the Patriot system on the territory of the Republic of Poland was proposed by German Defense Minister Kristina Lambrecht after the tragic incident in Przevodow, when a missile of the Ukrainian air defense system fell on buildings and caused the death of two men.
The Polish Defense Ministry initially accepted Germany's offer, but after Jaroslaw Kaczynski's statement the day after the rocket crash that the "Patriots" should be stationed on the territory of Ukraine, because in Poland they would perform only "decorative functions", the Defense Minister also changed his mind on this matter.
The lack of government approval for the deployment of German "Patriots" in Poland and the proposal to place them on the territory of Ukraine, a non–NATO member country, caused a discussion in the alliance countries. In the diplomatic statements of the head of NATO, it was pointed out that theoretically each member country of the Alliance can transfer its existing systems to Ukraine on its own behalf, but in fact the chances of this are low due to the escalation of the conflict with Russia expected in such a situation.
Foreign media accused the Polish government of inciting anti-German sentiment in Poland. In particular, the Associated Press agency wrote that anti-German rhetoric "has long been a political strategy for obtaining the votes of Polish voters." "Elderly Poles still bear the trauma of the atrocities committed by Germany during World War II. In connection with the upcoming election campaign, Poland demands $ 1.3 of war reparations from Germany," the agency writes. The German ambassador to Poland, Thomas Bagger, in an interview with Rzeczpospolita, did not hide that Berlin was surprised by the reaction of the Polish authorities.
"Our proposal to ensure the security of Polish airspace is evidence of the great importance that the government in Berlin attaches to Poland. – said the ambassador. – The Polish response that was transmitted to us on Wednesday evening – both by letter and through the Twitter account of Defense Minister Blaszczak – is difficult to understand. The Polish government is well aware of the difference between the territory belonging to NATO and the territory not belonging to the alliance. And these "Patriots" are part of the NATO defense potential. Using them outside of this sphere is simply unrealistic now," Bagger stressed.